June 2, 1908. J Agricultural Gazette of N.S. TF. 439 



Of tlie le.>s iiupurtaiit or less al)uiidant grasses at Miueinljah may be 

 mentioned, Panicum gracile, whose seed stalks afford good (juail feed ; 

 /'anicam eJfusHm ; P<>Ui)ii(i fulvn and Soryhum phiinosain, hrown-lieaded 

 grasses : Ei-agrostis leptostachtja and E. Browiiii. 



At Minembah I noticed the turkeys greedily feeding on the fruits of 

 Trihulns terresfrifi, a prickly-fruited, sheepdaming, prostrate plant that 

 liitherto I had not ascertained any use for. 



Mr. Browne is also extensively cultivating lucerne on the high lands, and 

 obtains most encouraging results ; anybody can get good results with it on rich 

 alluvial flats. 



This gentleman, whose name will also be remembered as one of the earliest 

 c >ntributors to an exact knowledge of pituri, the Australian aboriginal 

 masticatory, has been interested in the discrimination, cultural possibilities, 

 and fodder value of grasses, whether Australian or exotic, for many years. 

 The consequence is that he possesses a store of ascertained facts in regard to 

 these economic plants which can be possessed by very few private gentlemen, 

 .and the willingness with which for years [)ast he has experimented, at my 

 rr-quest, on various fodder-plants (chiefly grasses) has placed me under a deep 

 and personal obligation. 



Public experiment stations can of course be made of very great utility, but 

 at most they can be placed in very few localities ; what we want is to interest 

 private owners to make obsprvations, and to take up experimental work on 

 their holdino-.s, and thus the State will be dotted all over with foci of valuable 



wDrk. 



I cannot conclude these few notes without again drawing attention to the 

 remarkable luxuriance of the seeding grasses on the Middle Hunter in March, 

 1908 ; superlatives can alone describe it. This state of the countr}- is the 

 more pleasing because of the comparative severity of the seasons in th * 

 district since 1902. 



(Photographs by tSaunders, Singleton.) 



